I own nothing but my OC.

Chapter 38: Trading the Sun for the Moon

Okita stood out in the courtyard, staring up at the cloudy and grey sky. The long night of fighting at Aburanokoji had already given way to morning.

"!" Okita cringed in pain as another fit of violent coughing came over him. He pulled a cloth out of his kimono sleeve to cover his mouth. When he stopped and looked down at the white cloth, it was stained red with blood. He automatically tensed when he heard the sound of footsteps on the porch a few yards back and quickly hid the bloody cloth as he turned to see that it was just Chizuru returning with more water and a cloth so that she and Sumiko could finish cleaning and bandaging Heisuke's wounds. He watched as she set the bucket of water down and opened the door, giving him a view of Heisuke's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful, that if Okita hadn't known Sumiko had spent the whole of twilight operating and struggling to save his life, he would have thought he was just taking a nap. He could see the troubled and somewhat guilt-ridden expression on Sumiko's face while she stared down tiredly at her unconscious patient. She had done everything she could for him, but in the end it hadn't been enough. Chizuru quietly moved the bucket of water into the room and shut the door behind her. San'nan-san would be coming to collect Heisuke soon.

–∞–

"That damn Rasetsu Unit." Shinpachi cursed. "How long do they plan to keep it going?" He and Sano had been waiting up to hear more news on Heisuke's condition, and then that bombshell had been dropped on them. "It's not like I want Heisuke to die or anything, but… If you go fightin' like crazy, sometimes you're the one who ends up hurt. Still, can't they just let him die here?" He asked, clenching his fist. Heisuke went down fighting for them. Couldn't they just leave him in peace? Sumiko had done all she could to save him, but the damage to his major organs had been worse than she thought. She just couldn't get the internal bleeding to stop…

"I understand how you feel." Sano said as he examined the freshly cleaned and sharpened tip of his spear. "But it was probably Heisuke himself who decided to become a rasetsu." He stated calmly. He doubted Sumiko-san would have allowed them to intervene otherwise. They both knew how she felt about using that medicine on people. She thought its negative aspects too heavily outweighed the positive. She had even gone so far as to call it cruel.

"You agree with that wretched plan, too!?" Shinpachi shouted incredulously.

"No, but I feel I'm in no place to say what's right or wrong." Sano replied.

"This is goin' nowhere!" Shinpachi said as he stomped out of the room, frustrated.

"I'm jealous that you can get angry like that." Sano commented as he watched his friend storm off.

—∞—

December, 1867
Fushimi Magistrate's Office

A month after the Aburanokoji Incident, both the Satsuma and Choshu Domains prepared for war in earnest and had their forces assemble in Kyoto. To counter this, the Shinsengumi once again went to the Fushimi Magistrate's office and prepared for battle.

That evening, Chizuru and Sumiko were helping out by washing some cups at the well after serving tea.

Sumiko glanced up suddenly when she felt a strange presence approaching them. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw who it was.

"Yo." Heisuke said as he silently approached them from behind.

"!" Chizuru gasped as she jumped to her feet, so startled to hear his voice after not seeing him for a whole month, that she dropped the cup in her hand.

SHATTER!

"Ah." They all said as they stared down at the broken tea cup. That was coming out of someone's pay. Not that Chizuru and Sumiko actually got paid…

"Sorry. Did I scare you?" He asked Chizuru, smiling apologetically.

"Heisuke-kun! You're better already?" Chizuru asked.

"Are you okay to be walking around?" Sumiko asked. She knew he wasn't exactly a normal human anymore, but considering the condition he had been in when he chose to take the Ochimizu… Those weren't paper-cuts he had been recovering from. He'd almost died!

"Yeah. Looks like my wounds have healed. I'm no different from before." He said with the same cheeky smile as always.

"I see." Chizuru said, feeling relieved.

"Except… dusk looks like dawn to me, and the moon like the sun, I guess." He said, shielding his eyes as he stared up at the moon.

"I'm sorry." Chizuru said quietly, bowing her head. "It's because you protected me that…"

"If we're playing the blame game, then it's my fault for not being able to stop the bleeding…" Sumiko said, solemnly.

"Huh? It's not your faults at all. If I'd been even stronger, I wouldn't have gotten hurt." Heisuke said, trying to reassure them. He flexed his lean muscles for show. "My own weakness is to blame."

"Heisuke-kun…"

"Also, I was the one who chose to take the medicine." He reminded them. "I feel like I still have things to do. So, don't worry yourselves about it, Chizuru, Sumiko."

"Un." Chizuru said, nodding.

"Well, I guess at this point I'm just glad you're still alive." Sumiko said, smiling wanly, while Chizuru leaned down to start picking up the broken cup shards. "I was seriously worried you were going die that night." Well, in the end the official story remained the same. After Heisuke chose to become a rasetsu, he was officially listed amongst the dead, just like with San'nan-san. Even though they were still alive as part of the Rasetsu Unit, the rest of the world at large believed they had died in just the same ways as she had learned in history class…

"Eh? That's mean, Sumiko-san. Don't you have any faith in me?" He asked, sweat-dropping as he smiled wryly.

"Ow." Chizuru gasped quietly in pain when her fingers slipped on the wet ceramic, and she ended up cutting them on the sharp edge of the shard she had been trying to pick up.

"Oh. You okay, Chizuru?" Heisuke asked as he and Sumiko leaned down to check on her.

"Let me see." Sumiko said, gently taking the younger girl's injured hand to examine it. There was no need, however, as the wound was so shallow that it healed almost instantly. The blood made it look worse than it actually was.

THUMP.

"Ach-Guh!" Heisuke groaned in pain when it felt like something had snapped inside of him at the sight and smell of Chizuru's blood. His eyes widend and his pupils constricted as he turned his back on the sight and began staggering away from them. "Aah!"

"Heisuke-kun?" Chizuru asked as the two girls glanced up, concerned when he fell to his knees.

"St-Stay back, Chizuru…" He groaned he lay on the ground, cringing as his hair faded to white and his eyes began to glow red.

"!" Sumiko gasped as her eyes widened in realization. The blood! "Chizuru, quick! Wash the blood away!"

"Eh?" Chizuru said, furrowing her brow slightly in confusion. "It's not the time to worry about something like that, Sumiko-san! Heisuke-kun—"

"Miyagawa-san is correct to be worried. The scent of your blood is agitating him." San'nan said as he approached them. "It's his bloodlust. It will pass if he feeds on blood."

"San'nan-san." Chizuru said nervously, covering her bloody hand with the other one instinctively to hide the lack of wound.

"N-No!" Heisuke protested as he struggled with himself. "I won't… I can't feed on blood!"

"What reason is there to resist? If you want blood you should have some." San'nan told him.

'What…!?' Sumiko thought as her eyes widened in horror, appalled by the implications of what he had just said. This wasn't like modern times, where they could just go to a hospital or something and grab a couple of blood bags. Blood transfusions had to be done directly without proper refrigeration to store any donated blood, and even that in itself was an incredibly rare event… Was San'nan actually telling—no even worse, encouraging—Heisuke to feed directly from another human!?

"Please stop, San'nan-san!" Chizuru said nervously. "Don't give Heisuke-kun strange ideas!"

" 'Strange ideas'? Just as humans eat food, it's natural for us Rasetsu to desire blood." San'nan stated with an insidious gleam in his eye. His expression lightened momentarily, as if surprised by a sudden thought that occurred to him. "Do oni not have bloodlust?" He asked curiously.

"!" Chizuru gasped, appalled.

"No." Sumiko replied firmly, furrowing her brow. "At least, we don't. San'nan-san, are you even hearing yourself right now?"

"It's all right, Chizuru, Sumiko. I'm not gonna drink blood." Heisuke reassured them, panting heavily as he pushed himself back onto his feet, placing himself between them and San'nan. "That's not something humans do… right?" He asked, grimacing slightly from the pain he was in as he glanced back at them.

"Heisuke-kun…" Chizuru said as Sumiko's expression softened upon seeing how much he was suffering.

"You think you're still human?" San'nan asked, causing them to glanced back at him. "Though a rasetsu, you're still bound by human morals. 'Unfortunate' is the only way to put it. However, I, too, am a human turned rasetsu. I understand your confusion. If the urge for blood is simply unacceptable…" He stepped forward and held out a packet of medicine. "Take this."

Sumiko furrowed her brow. It could only be one thing. So they did get the medicine she made from Matsumoto-sensei… Why did he only bring it out as a last resort?

"San'nan-san, what is that?" Chizuru asked, knowing nothing of the arrangements Sumiko had made.

"A medicine that Matsumoto-sensei made," San'nan replied, "one that controls bloodlust."

"!" Heisuke gasped as he immediately reached out and grabbed it so he could take it.

"Here, let me." Sumiko said, holding out her hand, when she saw he was having trouble unfolding the packet with his shaking hands. "You'll rip it if you try to open it like that." She opened the medicine packet for Heisuke while Chizuru grabbed a cup and filled it with water for him to use to take the medicine with. Heisuke nodded in thanks as he took the medicine and gulped down the water to wash away its metallic taste.

"Agh!" He gasped after he had drained the cup. Almost immediately, his white hair darkened back to its usual shade of brown.

"Thank you very much, San'nan-san." Chizuru said, relieved to see Heisuke back to normal. However, Sumiko was giving him a stern look for not bringing the medicine out sooner.

"It's nothing to thank me for." San'nan told Chizuru. "After all, it is only a temporary measure."

"Temporary?" Sumiko asked, furrowing her brow.

"For us rasetsu, the pain will continue until we taste blood." San'nan explained as he turned to walk away.

"San'nan-san." Heisuke said, causing the rasetsu to pause for a moment. "You're going out on patrol again?" He asked hesitantly. Sumiko noticed San'nan was already wearing his sword.

"Yes." San'nan replied without looking back before continuing on his way.

Sumiko frowned. She didn't like the sound of that…